PATIENTS with hearing impairments have had a ‘poor experience’ at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), according to a report.

HHFT’s board of directors heard how the trust wants to improve the experience for people with a hearing impairment, after patients said their needs were not being met.

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The report, which focused on learning from a range of incidents, complaints and claims, found:

  • Poor recording of the level of hearing impairment in patients’ notes
  • Poor identification and recording of communication support needs and how best to meet them
  • Failure to provide a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter for key conversations surrounding care and treatment
  • Lack of staff awareness on how to communicate with people who have a hearing impairment.

The trust, which runs Basingstoke, Andover and Winchester hospitals, said in the report that it has a “responsibility to ensure every patient can fully understand and be involved in their care and treatment”.

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The Accessible Information Standard requires health and social care providers to identify, record, share and flag individuals’ communication needs; to provide information in an accessible format; and facilitate any communication support needed.

To better support patients with a hearing impairment, the trust has developed an electronic patient record tag that can be used when a patient needs BSL; and made available clear face masks to aid communication for deaf people who reply on lipreading.

The trust’s ‘Disability Champions’ staff group will also highlight issues faced by people with a hearing impairment during Deaf Awareness Week from May 2 to 8.